Quicksilver Resources reducing contract, consultant positions

Steamboat Springs  On Thursday, Quicksilver Resources eliminated about 30 contract and consultant positions in the company’s Steamboat office, according to Quicksilver Resources Senior Director of Government and Community Affairs Stephen Lindsey.

Lindsey wrote in an email that the energy exploration company did not close the Steamboat office and that it retained about 15 contract and consultant employees, who are responsible for land leasing, title research, filings and general activity associated with land and leasing work.

“As a natural function of workload, our initial activity is a more labor-intensive process, and as we reach a sustainable level, the amount of that workload diminishes. We were grateful to have a dedicated group of employees who performed their jobs with a high degree of skill and professionalism,” Lindsey wrote.

Although Quicksilver Re­sou­rces has several applications in various stages of the permitting process, the company has drilled only one well in Routt County, at Wolf Mountain along the Yampa River east of Hayden. The company drilled for oil at that location using the hydraulic fracturing technique. Quicksilver used gelled butane in place of water during that fracking process.

The two permit applications southeast of Hayden also are being proposed by Quicksilver Resources and would be accessed off U.S. Highway 40 and Routt County Road 27 within a couple of miles of each other. One is called Williams 31-30 and the other is called 20 Mile Sheep 31-05.

Documents on file with Routt County indicate that Quicksilver Resources intends to use fracking techniques in the completion phase of both wells.

A Routt County Planning Commission public hearing has been scheduled Jan. 19 to consider Quicksilver Resources’ newest well-drilling application on the Camilletti & Sons Ranch west of Milner.